Automatic, oil-frying machines are popular home appliances today. However, many of these oil fryers have been known to cook the contents of their baskets unevenly. Additionally, many fried items retain too much oil and, when removed from the fryer, remain greasy and generally unwholesome.
The present invention reflects the discovery that foods that are periodically immersed and removed from a fryer during the cooking cycle become more evenly cooked, and tend to retain less oil after the cooking cycle is terminated.
A particular type of frying apparatus provides a tilting, rotating basket in order to periodically convey food items through heated oil. Such a machine is illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,901,633 and 5,027,697, which were both issued to DE LONGHI on Feb. 20, 1990 and Jul. 2, 1991, respectively, both of which were entitled "Rotating Oblique Basket Frier for Cyclic Immersion Cooking". The aforementioned apparatus cyclically moves the food in the basket in and out of the heated oil, as the basket is caused to rotate in a tilted position.
Several problems are associated with this type of basket fryer. In the first place, the rotative drive motor is disposed below the heated oil pan, in close proximity to the heated oil. The motor must be carefully sealed so as to prevent oil leakage into the motor housing. Since it is so close to the oil, the motor must be designed to run hot, yet be sufficiently insulated to prevent overheating of its parts. In addition to these operational problems, the food cooking is often uneven, despite the rotation of the basket into and out of the heated oil. Items such as puff balls, fritters and other, generally round items may tend to roll back into the oil, as the tilted basket is rotated. In addition, some items are disposed within the oil longer, because of their size and/or shape, thus causing an unevenness in the entire, cooked contents of the rotating basket.
The present inventor has determined that, in order to provide uniform frying of food items in an electrical deep-fryer, it is advantageous to have the food basket automatically rise up and down and stop in an indicated location. Then the food basket is immersed into the heated oil in a uniform, translational manner. Using translational motion ensures that all of the food items in the basket meet and leave the heated oil at approximately the same time. The translational motion also ensures that none of the items in the food basket will shift during the cooking cycle.
The current invention encompasses the development of an automatic movable food basket for a deep-frying appliance. This automatic movable food basket has a power supply that is controlled by a number of conductors.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved, electrical, frying appliance.
It is another object of this invention to provide an electrical, deep-frying appliance that automatically immerses and extracts food items from an aluminum oil bowl during a cooking cycle by using a number of switches.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an electrical fryer that is less subject to fouling than are conventional appliances.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an electrical frying appliance that uniformly cooks foods.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an electrical fryer that uses a timer to control the food basket to continuously rise up and move down while the food is fried intermittently.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an electrical fryer that uses a timer to control the food basket to rise up and move down after continuously frying the food.